Lifeline
by Merwood
Summary: Stiles is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and given six months to live. Where medicine and magic failed the group learns that Jackson just might be Stiles only hope for survival. But first they need to convince him to break his bond with his boyfriend Danny and submit to Stiles as his new master until the bond defeats the disease.


Author Notes: For the purpose of this story I invented/twisted facts surrounding mountain ash. Follows cannon to the end of season 2 with the exception of Jackson becoming a werewolf at the end. He remained a Kanima and Danny became his master to prevent people from taking advantage of him.

Normally I don't write Sterek(Stiles/Derek) do to the the large amount available of those pairings but as I've already written several chapters I'm finding they work for this fic but it will be sterek with a twist if I take that route.

This story is not Beta'd so all mistakes are my own and I do not own teen wolf and all that other disclaimer stuff.

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Chapter 1

"How did it get this bad without us sensing it?"

Stiles heard Scott's voice as he slowly slipped back into consciousness, even if it sounded muffled as though hearing someone talk while underwater. He sounded worried, bordering on hysterical and Stiles didn't need to have werewolf super senses to work that out.

"I think it's the mountain ash. I've been working with him and teaching him the ways of the druids."

That was Dr Deaton, Stiles couldn't help thinking it was weird to have him in his bedroom. Then he heard the steady beating of the cardiac monitoring machine and realized he must be in the hospital. He wanted to speak up and ask what was going on but he seemed to be having trouble breathing, almost as if he had been running suicides with coach Fincock. He felt something running through his hair repeatedly as if he was being petted. If he weren't feeling so weak and if it didn't feel quite so amazing he might protest the indignity of being treated like a pet, he had it on good authority that there were many werewolves running about in town that he was sure were into that kind of thing.

"Can mountain ash do something like this? I thought it protected non-supernatural's."

If the conversation up to this point hadn't worried Stiles yet hearing Derek's calm controlled tone without even a hint of a growl made him think he should be worried, maybe even a bit scared.

"Normally yes. It protects humans from the dangers of the supernatural; however it also is a natural stimuli. It can be mixed with poison's to become more potent can even work as a fertilizer for some vegetation. Sadly if a human handling it is ill it can also speed the natural progression of the disease."

Stiles was really not liking the sounds of this. He's never before felt more happy about being a virgin because at least he can rule out all numbers of nasty STI's he most certainly will not be dying of.

"Modern medicine can't help him but magic can, right? I mean its responsible for it getting this bad so fast, surely you can find something within the next six months to save my boy?"

_Six months? _If Stiles wasn't scared before he most definitely was now after hearing his fathers shaky voice in near tears. Screw that. His life was becoming pretty damn awesome. His best friend was a bloody werewolf, he's become part of a werewolf pack despite being human, he's learning magic(how freaking amazing is that?), he's got friends now, yes plural. And to top it all off Lydia Martin his long time crush is one of them. She actually knows his name and has even called him cute once. Lydia needs him, well she probably doesn't but since Jackson dumped her to be date his best friend it meant Lydia was finally free for dating again. And Stiles fully intended on being that rebound guy she inevitably regrets sleeping with before she goes on to find her next insensitive asshat boyfriend.

He had a life, a good life. No. A great life and he didn't want to die, not now and not in six months. It was far too soon.

Stiles heard Dr Deaton let out a long drawn out sigh. "Six months is the estimated time if the illness was progressing at a natural rate." Stiles heard his dad sob and Scott whimper before Deaton continued. "I can't know for certain given we don't know when the cancer first developed but chances are he probably only has a week maybe a week and a half."

Stiles opened his eyes and slowly tried pushing himself to a sitting position. It was ridiculous how weak he felt considering that very morning her had felt fine. He didn't even remember passing out just one minute he was at school and the next he was waking up in the hospital with a week and change to live.

As he sits up a rush of people appeared at his side in an instant. Scott and his father moving in from the far end of the room while Deaton held back. Two sets of arms were already on either side of him helping him settle against the headboard of the bed. Derek on his left and Lydia on his right. She must have been the one petting him and that made him not mind the indignity all that much anymore.

"He's awake!."

"Stiles, are you okay?"

"Take it easy."

The worried voices all blurred together while the room spun as he got use to being vertical once again. It made him wonder how long he was out for. He figured it was a good place to start with the many questions he needed answering.

"How long?" He motioned to the bed and the room in general hoping they'd catch on to his meaning.

"Two days." It was his father who answered. Stiles felt the dip in the bed shortly followed by his fathers hand on his leg, just below the knee.

Stiles' first thought was, _great there goes my whole weekend_, but then let out a hollow laugh when he remembered he'd be dead in a week so he'd likely never attend school again. He knew he should probably ask about the whole dying thing but he wanted to stall a little more before it became real, so instead of asking what was killing him he asked:

"What happened? How did I get here?" He remembered finishing up with lacrosse practice and feeling slightly light-headed throughout. Because of that he ended up being one of the last people to leave which meant bickering with Jackson cause he wanted to leave but couldn't because he was the co-captain in charge of locking up after the games and practices.

"You passed out in the locker room. Apparently Jackson caught you." Lydia's voice was soft and soothing in his ear, which only distracted him for a moment before realizing he fainted in front of Jackson who had saved him from face diving into the cement floor. Great, he really didn't want to owe the king of the douchebags anything.

Stiles didn't even try suppress the moan that came with that gem of information. "Great. There is no way he's not going to tease me for the rest of my life for fainting into his arms." The entire room went silent and everyone avoided looking at him directly. _Oh, right. Dead in a week_. His mind reminded him. At least he wouldn't have to worry about Jackson's constant taunts. He figured he'd best move the conversation along before the tension in the room got anymore uncomfortable.

"Okay, so I go to dive face first into the cement and Jackson saves me and what, calls 911 and here we are?"

"Actually, I called 911." Stiles gave Lydia a confused look at that because he couldn't work out what Lydia was doing in the boys locker room. Unless Jackson thought it was smart to call Lydia and ask her to call 911 which to him made absolutely no sense, though it was Jackson and he's not exactly the brightest bulb. Scott surprisingly seemed to have picked up on Stiles confusion and continued on with the story.

"Actually Danny told us to call the police. It was pretty awesome. Me and the rest of the pack were in the parking lot waiting for you and Danny was there too, waiting for Jackson. We were talking about how we were going to win regionals this year, well us guys were. Erica was mostly complaining about how long you were taking and Lydia was doing something with her nails." Stiles noticed Derek giving Scott the, _you're giving way to much useless information again _(the look was quite common for both him and Scott so he knew it well) look, which Scott seemed to understand and jumped back to the important parts. "Right, so we were all standing around talking when Danny out of no where was like, "call the police, someone's hurt!" and then he ran off. Of course we all start running after him to find out what was going on. Lydia stayed behind with Allison and called the police. Allison was smart enough to shout after Danny where this person was hurt." Stiles rolled his eyes at the proud look Scott got from thinking about his girlfriend.

"I don't really get what was so awesome. Jackson should have called for an ambulance himself, did he really need Danny to do it for him?"

"Jackson couldn't call the police. He always leaves his cell in his car during practices and games. He says '_everyone important is here, you should be watching and Danny plays. Everything else can wait.' _Anyway, so yeah, he couldn't call anyone." Stiles couldn't help feeling a little jealous watching Lydia blush, even if only a little, at the memory of dating Jackson. Then he felt angry with Jackson for making Lydia waste so much of her life only to dump her when he finally worked up the courage to come out of the closet. _And who makes their girlfriends watch every practice?_

Lydia seemed to have caught on to his thinking and quickly added:

"I use to do my homework on the bleachers. My house is always really quiet and I like background noise so I'd sit and do my homework there. Not just for lacrosse, most practices. Its what lead to us dating, but I won't bore you with the details." Stiles can't help thinking he's a bit of a masochist wondering how they had met, what he had done to get such a wonderful person to agree to go out with someone who clearly wasn't worthy of her. How even after everything he put her through she could still look back on it so fondly.

"Tell him about the cool part, you know the Jedi mind tricks!" Scott interrupted clearly excited about this part of the story. Stiles couldn't help wondering what he meant by _'Jedi mind ticks.'_

"Right. So after Jackson left with you in the ambulance…"~

"Wait, wait, wait." Stiles couldn't let the story continue without finding out why on earth of all the people who could ride with him Jackson was the one to go. "Why on earth did Jackson ride with me? Seriously, if someone held a gun to our heads and told us to hug or we're dead, I have it on good authority we'd both be very dead."

The room again dropped into an uncomfortable silence before Deaton broke it.

"You stopped breathing" Stiles head popped up and stared at the man because if that were true he could very well not even have the measly week he had left.

"Jackson performed CPR, you would have been dead if he wasn't there. He went with you to tell the paramedics everything he did to keep you alive until they came." His father supplied and Stiles couldn't even begrudge him how thankful he sounded towards Jackson.

Stiles however didn't want to feel that so he let out the best over dramatic groan he could muster as he rubbed the heels of his palms into his eyes. "Seriously? I owe my life to Jackson of all people? He's going to hold that over my head for like, forever." He groaned again because one groan he found wasn't sufficient.

Stiles jumped when he felt Derek's large hand on his shoulder trying to comfort him. He couldn't believe how his world could be so thoroughly tipped upside down. He had always assumed werewolves would be the it and nothing would ever shock him again. Apparently finding out you have a week to live which you only have due to your arch-nemeses saving your life is more of a shocker than finding out the existence of the supernatural.

"Oh don't worry sweetie." Lydia said in a half teasing somewhat condescending tone. "I'm pretty sure Jackson is going to pretend the whole thing never happened; otherwise he'd have to admit to spending fifteen minutes performing mouth-to-mouth on you."

Stiles gave Lydia a horrified look which she only laughed at.

"That's not funny." Stiles is sure Lydia made that last part up and is messing with him because the alternate is just to horrifying to comprehend.

"Its true." And god Stiles could see the hero-worship in Scott's eyes. "If it wasn't for him I'd be short my best friend, so yeah. I'm grateful to him. All of us are. Been trying to call him to tell him that but he either ignores the call or picks up and says fu…err don't call." Stiles rolled his eyes and watched Scott ears redden at almost swearing in front of the adults. "We called Danny but he says Jackson is busy and promises to pass on a message. Of course we know he's lying because I heard Jackson telling him to tell us to fuck off in the background." Scott covered his mouth after realizing he missed censoring that final curse. Stiles couldn't help feeling amused by his best friends guilty look, he was definitely one of those kids who never swore naturally by themselves but if they heard someone else say one they had a tendency to repeat it.

"I'd really like to take a page from the Jackson Whittemore '_how to be the worlds biggest douche handbook' _and forget about the whole thing." Stiles noticed his dad about to protest and quickly added, "for now. I can only process so much." His dad gave a slight nod to which Stiles was grateful. "Sooo…Jedi mind tricks?" he prompted while dragging out the o.

"Right." Lydia picked up where she had off. "After Jackson left with you we all made our way to the hospital, the entire pack. We were all sitting around in the waiting room, it was pretty tense with all the worried werewolves. Derek had to show up to help half of them in keeping their shifting under control. Everyone was on edge with not knowing what was going on aside from the doctors claiming _'he's stable and we're running some tests.'_ Anyway, yeah. So its really quiet in the room when Danny comes walking in with an arm wrapped around a very sombre looking Jackson and everything kind of gets ugly fast."

Stiles notices Lydia twirling her hair, a nervous gesture he knows of hers. Scott and his dad both look thoroughly ashamed of themselves and even Derek looks uncomfortable with whatever happened in the hospital and it doesn't take Stiles long to piece together why.

"You thought he did something to me?" It was awhile before anyone answered but the silence was answer enough. Stiles didn't groan this time despite wanting to because now not only does he have to be thankful to Jackson he has to feel guilty for bringing the wrath of his pack down on him when for once he hadn't done anything wrong. Even thinking that might be a little unfair because truthfully Jackson and Danny more or less have just stuck to themselves for the last year. Jackson was still Jackson and couldn't resist a dig here and there but he had stopped seeking out ways to make their lives miserable.

Derek was hunched over in his chair with his elbows on his knees and his head resting in his palms as he gave a regretful sigh. "There really isn't an excuse, it was probably mostly my fault since the pack can pick up on my stronger emotions when in close proximity. They only got a few steps into the room when I grabbed Jackson and pinned him to the wall threatening to end his life if he didn't tell us what he did."

"Derek you can't take all the blame." Scott was jumping in to defend his alpha. "We all were thinking it. Boyd, Erica and Cora were holding Danny back from aiding Jackson. God, I had never seen Danny so angry before. He went full out wolf in the middle of the hospital. Lydia and Allison took to shouting at Jackson along with your dad, who was being held back by my mom. The only one of us not trying to get a piece of Jackson was Isaac who was trying to hold me off him."

Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat. He felt a little guilty feeling so touched that his friends cared so much for him. "So how did you guys manage to stop the whole thing from going supernova?"

"Jackson." Lydia supplied and she sounded almost hurt when she said his name. "I think being with Danny has calmed him down, helped him with a lot with his insecurities. Because he fought back his transformation, which must have been so hard given how distressed Danny was."

"Jackson's eyes, fangs and claws were out but he didn't attack, and as you know those paralyzing claws can be a real bitch." Derek picked up where Lydia had trailed off. "His voice was strained, I could feel his body shacking from the exertion of holding off his instinct to protect Danny. He didn't attack but said, 'let go of Danny and let me down and I'll tell you everything I know. Otherwise I shift and start paralyzing werewolves and you can come up with the story to explain to the evening news about the giant lizard running amok in the emergency ward of the Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital.' Him being level-headed was almost like getting a bucked of ice water dumped on my head." Derek snickered almost self-deprecatingly.

"Derek let him down and told the others to release Danny," Stiles dad supplied. "Gotta say those two clearly care about each other. That Danny kid didn't think of hurting anyone, just ran right to Jackson. Both of them turned back to completely human by the time they were together again." His dad gave a light laugh which for once sounded genuine and not hollow or self-deprecating as the earlier laughs in the room had sounded. "Never thought I'd find two almost six foot boys adorable. Danny pretty much tackled Jackson and wouldn't let him ago. Jackson made a few attempts and pushing him off but with no real effort. Was even smiling despite how obviously embarrassed he was."

Lydia was pointedly looking at the wall away from everyone, clearly remembering the same scene. The events of that night must have left an impression because Lydia was normally pretty good at hiding her emotions. He couldn't imagine what it must feel like for her to try dating someone like Jackson who she clearly still cares for and have to watch someone else help them in ways she never could.

"Yeah so once everyone calmed down, with Derek's help. He, um, had to order some of us to sit with his Alpha voice." Scott looked a little sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head making it pretty clear he was one of said people. "Then Jackson explained. Said you two were doing your usual bickering when all of a sudden you just heeled over. Said he caught you before you hit the ground and performed CPR until help came."

While it explained all the events leading to him coming here Stiles was still curious about the whole mind tricks thing because nothing they explained sounded overly Jedi worthy, so he said as much. "So where do these Jedi mind tricks come in."

"Oh yeah." Scott immediately shifted into overexcited puppy mode as he explained. "So as Danny and Jackson were leaving Isaac was like, '_so Danny, how did you know that something was wrong in the locker room? I mean in the parking lot you didn't have your phone out and I don't remember seeing any headphones or a Bluetooth._' and Danny said, '_it's the Kanima bond. We're not telepathic or anything but the last few months we've been able to feel each others emotions_.' I don't really know why but Jackson went as red as a tomato and Danny got a big dopy grin. You know the kind you keep accusing me of having whenever I look at Allison. Anyway, so Danny said he didn't know what was going on just that he could feel Jackson's distress and that he was worried and he needed help.

"I can only imagine the permanent damage Danny's going to suffer having to feel all of Jackson's emotions, the guys got the emotional stability of a twelve-year-old girl." Stiles couldn't help the dig, him and Jackson's constant banter seems to be engrained into their very being.

"Say what you want about the guy; however if he wasn't such a dedicated lacrosse player who kept up to date with his first aid training, as a team captain is suppose to, you most likely would be dead." Mr Stilinski gave Scott a pointed look at the first aid training part which Stiles knew was a criticism about Scott's lack of training he was meant to have completed. Stiles couldn't fault him though, the last two times he scheduled it something supernatural came up. "He saved my boys life so I don't really care what he's done in the past, he has my gratitude and you will thank him for it."

Stiles isn't ashamed to admit he moaned like a petulant child before he whined. "Do I have too? Seriously, I've saved his life more than once, technically he still owes me, but I'll be the bigger man and call it even." Stiles tried to ignore the pointed look his father was giving him but could only endure so long with nowhere to hide. "Fine! I will thank him but I fully intend to mumble and not make eye contact."

"There's the mature and well adjusted young man I knew I raised." Stiles chose to ignore the sarcasm in his fathers tone.

With the story of how Stiles ended up in the hospital concluded he couldn't put off the why of it any longer. The rest of the room seemed to have come to the same conclusions as no one really wanted to speak up and address the issue.

"So what is it?" Stiles asked looking about the room to see who would finally fill him in. Deaton had taken a seat at the back of the room, clearly letting the family have their moment. Lydia and Scott both avoided eye contact and by the way the latter was eyeing the door he was contemplating making a run for it. "I know I'm s-sick and I only have a week to l-live." He couldn't help the breaks in his voice because he really didn't want to die.

"That was only a estimate, there really is no…"

"Dad." Stiles cut off his father before he could give any more empty promises. He wanted the truth, wanted his chances and he wanted to know his options. "In my experience Dr. Deaton isn't normally wrong. If he thinks a week or two, chances are even if I'm extremely lucky I might have a month, but I think that might be optimistic." Stiles ignored the fact that Deaton didn't intercede and reassure him its quite possible he could be wrong. He needed to cut to the chase and rip off the band-aid and just get this part of the conversation over with. "I'm dying, what's killing me?"

His dad took a moment as if to prepare himself to say it aloud. "Cancer, stage 4."

Stiles inhaled a sharp intake of breath. His biology class had covered it recently but Stiles didn't really need that lesson. He had spent many hours and learned what he could about it when he was much younger when he watched his mother slowly die from the same illness.

Stage 4 meant it was no longer localized and had spread to other parts of the body. He knew when that happened the chances of survival were significantly reduced and from what he heard about the mountain ash science and modern medicine wouldn't stand a chance.

"Stiles, don't worry. We're going to fight it. We're going to beat it." Stiles listened to his dads promises it was hard to take comfort when the words sounded so unsure. "Dr. Deaton will find some magical cure…"

"Dad, stop." Stiles reached out and took his fathers hand and held it between his. He couldn't let his father have false hope, the Doctors had done that to him with their mom. Kept telling them how optimistic they were, how they were confident they would stop it. Each visit had just resulted in heartbreak. "Magic is used to preserve the natural balance, there are no miracle cures." It was one of the first things Deaton had taught him. It made sense in a way when Stiles found that out because if it had been possible there surely would have been a corrupt druid or two running around trying to cash in on miracle cures.

"I'm going to die." Stiles had said the words so calmly with the intent on trying to comfort his dad and reassure him but the second those words left him the reality of the situation hit him hard and the tears began to fall. "I'm going to die, I don't want to die. I'm only seventeen I shouldn't be dying already." He sobbed.

In and instant Lydia had leaned in and wrapped him up in a hug and Derek's right hand was back on his shoulder. Scott and his father had placed a hand each on each of his legs but he could see both their faces looked as wretched as he felt.

Stiles, his father and Lydia were openly crying while Scott struggled to remain stoic. Derek was the only one of the group who managed to hold his emotions in check, but even he looked miserable. The group were so caught up in the moment and the emotional high of Stiles predicament that no one notice that Dr Deaton had made his way across the room and now was standing the space between Scott and Lydia on the right-hand side of the bed. He almost missed the words when spoken.

"There is a chance we can beat this but it won't be a pleasant experience for those involved in producing the remedy." Stiles wondered if Dr. Deaton could possibly make that sound more cryptic,

The room became deathly silent and everyone stared at Deaton seeing if he would elaborate. It seemed the silence lasted to long as everyone ended up talking at once.

"Whatever you need," Derek said.

"I'll do it," Scott volunteered even without knowing what was involved.

"How? I thought magic couldn't help," his father.

"Those involved? How many people does this cure need, and what does it need them for?" Lydia of course the most practical, picking out the key information that needed to be analyzed.

Stiles had been to shocked to speak. A minute ago he was sure he would die, but now there was a hope even if only a little bit.

"Sadly no one in this room," Dr Deaton started and as soon as he noticed Derek move to speak he added, "or in you're pack can help," he said while looking at Derek; "The only hope of a remedy lies in the bond between a Kanima and its master."

"Where are we going to find another Kanima? I thought those were meant to be rare. I'm pretty sure Jackson is the only one we've ever seen." Scott seemed to be missing the point. Stiles knew that Deaton was aware of the rarity of the Kanima which meant he was planning on using Jackson somehow and wasn't that just perfect.

"You mean Jackson? You want to use his bond with Danny to cure my cancer?" Stiles had no idea how that would work. He was sure their bond helped with the founding of the strong relationship they've formed but didn't understand how that could cure super charged cancer.

"Yes, I mean Jackson. Before I explain and get everyone's hopes up let me be clear. This will be dangerous, not so much for Stiles who will surely die without it but for both Danny and Jackson. And what I'm suggesting is purely an educated guess based on my knowledge of Kanima and werewolves. There is no precedent for this, no guarantee's. Its very high risk with a low chance."

"So what you're saying is," Stiles father asked seeking clarity. "In order to possibly save my sons life we have to ask two boys to put themselves in danger for someone they're not even close too." Deaton nodded in reply without speaking. The Sheriff seemed to sum up what everyone else is thinking. "Shit."

"Why do you think that might work? I've never heard anything about a Kanima's bond healing its master of illness before. If that were the case why didn't Gerald just keep Jackson under his control while he healed and not bother with trying to become a werewolf?" Stiles listened to Derek's inquires. He couldn't really see what Deaton thought a Kanima might be able to accomplish, though he listened because if this was a last ditch effort to cheat death he didn't have anything to lose. He just wasn't overly comfortable putting his life into Jackson's hands.

"Matt and Gerald couldn't use Jackson because the bond only worked one way. To them Jackson was a tool, something to use and discard. They had complete control over his actions and used him to kill. At first murderers and then innocents as their control grew. The Kanima may be a tool but he is still Jackson at the bases of levels. Historically speaking people who gain control of a Kanima just want to use it as a creature of vengeance. When you use something you don't tend to want to know or care how it feels and when being used you don't really wish to open up. So the Kanima feels its master and obeys but that's it. Unless you gain its trust that bond remains a one way link. Now throughout history people who enslave the Kanima are either murdered themselves or eventually succumb to its curse and become one themselves. There are very little stories of one person remaining the master of a Kanima for longer than a year."

"That explains why Gerald couldn't be healed from it but what makes you think the bond can be used to heal illness at all if no ones ever truly bonded with one?" Lydia was quickly becoming engrossed by everything, eager to learn. Stiles hoped she was caught up enough to not notice his fond expression.

"I didn't say no one has never truly opened a bond with one. Its just until this last year it had never been done." With the exception of Scott everyone came to the realization that Deaton was referring Jackson and Danny. "If Danny was able to sense Jackson's distress that implies the bond goes both ways. And seeing as, according to your story, Danny needed three werewolves to restrain him even though he was the youngest of the lot. He must have clearly been drawing strength from his pack."

With the exception of Derek who seemed stunned by the revelation, everyone else - Stiles included - was just confused.

"What do you mean by Danny's pack? I thought he was an omega." Scott's confusion was understandable this time because Danny was. He had outright refused to join a pack in which Jackson was not a part of. Derek had reluctantly offered Jackson to join but Jackson made it clear he wanted no part of it or them.

"Let me clear up a few things before I answer that. With werewolves the larger the pack the stronger they are, this holds especially true for the Alpha. And as the Alpha he can, to an extent control pack members who have submitted to his authority. This is done through their bond, this bond also allows the pack to sense its Alpha's emotions, thus making them a more unified group. Now this bond is the basic bond shared between the pack unit but members who become extremely close can also develop a more intimate one." With this final piece of information Stiles was positive Derek now knew where Deaton's theories were going.

"The bond between mates." It was rhetorical but Deaton still gave Derek a nod.

"Exactly. If two werewolves become close enough they can draw strength from one another. If one is sic the simple act of their mate being close to them can fight off illness." And there it was, the route of Deaton's theory to the remedy to Stiles' salvation.

"But Jackson is a Kanima, how can he help? Shouldn't we be mating Stiles with a werewolf?" Stiles couldn't help the reddening of his ears at Scott's suggestion.

"Sadly you cant force a bond and Stiles is human so a bond with a werewolf wouldn't heal him. He would need to become a werewolf which with his weakened state mixed with the mountain ash in his system he would never survive the transition." Deaton explained. "Now for why I think this might work. Jackson became a Kanima because he's in turmoil within himself. He's never known his birthparents and never fully accepted his adopted ones. He's unsure of who he is and struggles to find himself. This turmoil caused his shape to become twisted and disfigured to better reflect his need for acceptance. The curse is still the same, he's still influenced by the moon, can hold a beta and alpha form and can still develop bonds. Just like its form the bond becomes twisted too. The Kanima is so desperate for guidance that it surrenders its free will in order to obtain a sense of belonging. Until now its always been assumed that this perverse bond was an absolute, but that said, no master had ever actually loved the host before."

"So what you're saying is that because Danny genuinely cares about and most likely loves Jackson the bond has opened both ways and Jackson sees Danny as not only his Alpha but also his mate?" They were questions but to Stiles it seemed like Derek had already accepted the answers. At Deaton's confirmation Derek continued. "But if that's true in order for this to be beneficial to Stiles we'd need to sever Danny and Jackson's link and have Jackson submit to Stiles, not to mention the time Stiles doesn't have to develop a bond with Jackson. And if those two really have developed a mates bond severing it could kill one if not both of them. Unless there is a something you haven't mentioned yet there is no way this is going to work."

"You're right. Severing the link would cause irreparable damage that will very likely lead to a fatality, not to mention be completely counter productive to healing Stiles as it is very unlikely if not impossible that Stiles and Jackson would ever develop the level of feelings required to from a mates bond. No, what I hope to do is redirect the bond. There is a ritual that was developed a few centuries ago for that very purpose."

Now that Stiles understood how Deaton planned to heal him he needed to know the consequences of performing this ritual. Yes he was curious how he planned to pull it off and what was involved, but by the sounds of things it was going to be dangerous and not just for him. He would be putting Danny and Jackson in danger too and if the risks were too high there would be no point discussing the ritual further.

"What kind of side effects or consequences would I expect? Sorry, what side effect would we expect?" He remedied.

Deaton released a tired sigh before answering. "To be perfectly blunt. Aside from the fact that to perform the ritual we'd need to obtain Danny and Jackson's consent I'd also need the aid of Derek's entire pack and possibly have to bring my sister in on this too, not to mention the distinct possibility we might accidentally unleash an alpha Kanima."

Stiles got chills from that last bit. He remembered hearing about the alpha form a little but given a beta Kanima had been a struggle for Derek's entire pack he could only imagine the strength and carnage an Alpha could be capable of.

"Now should we succeed," Deaton continued. "Danny wouldn't be able to feel the his bond with Jackson for the entirety of the time the spell is in place, which can only be broken on a full moon. For Danny that would mean no longer being able to sense Jackson's emotions. Given they've been linked for about a year now and the strength of their feelings for one another Danny will likely feel pretty empty without it. How he reacts to that loss no one can say until it happens. He'll likely become dressed and possibly insecure as he'll no longer be able to feel how Jackson cares about him. I could go deeper but honestly it would all be speculation. For you and Jackson it will be an experience…" Deaton trailed off and Stiles had a feeling the stalling was because he knew Stiles wouldn't be happy with the effects on himself.

"Your silence is making me nervous."

"In short, you would experience everything Danny does with Jackson. You'd share emotions which will be really hard on you. Jackson and Danny had the benefit of developing this bond over time, you'll be going in with the door wide open. Everything you feel he'd feel and vice versa. The experience will be intense and possibly overwhelming. And knowing Jackson, without being able to feel how Danny feels about him he'll likely become insecure and far more emotional than usual."

Stiles didn't like the idea of sharing emotions with Jackson to begin with, being stuck with an overly emotional Jackson he was sure would be absolutely horrible. Then Stiles realized something that might make this whole experience worth while. If he would effectively be taking the position in the Kanima's life in which Danny currently filled than that would mean…

"So I'd like be the Kanima master?" Stiles asked but couldn't hold back the full on grin he got from the idea that he'd get to boss Jackson around and there would be absolutely nothing he could do about it. "He would have to obey my commands and stuff, right?"

"Stiles!" His father scolded, but Stiles couldn't wipe the grin off his face because Jackson had a whole lot of Karma coming his way.

"Yes. Essentially you would be in command of the Kanima." Stiles got a giddy feeling at Deaton's confirmation, because yeah possibly dying might suck but a month or two of getting to humiliate Jackson would be a decent compromise. In his glee he almost missed what was being said when Deaton carried on. "If you worked that out than Jackson most definitely will. Remember, he doesn't have to say yes. Chances are he may not be willing to endanger himself and Danny to save your life. Before you start planning all the ways you could humiliate and undermine all the steps Jackson has taken with Danny's help maybe you should first consider how you're going to convince someone who merely tolerates you to not only risk everything he cares about but also put his life and freedom in your hands."

"Okay, maybe you have a point there." Stiles conceded.

"If we can get them to help and I find out you forced Jackson to do anything, even so much as scratch his nose I will ground you for the rest of your life." And now his father officially burst his bubble.

"Fine, no forcing Jackson to heel and play dead." He was grumbling but it felt justified. It would be a wasted opportunity. "So, what does this ritual entail?" Now he just wanted to hash out the details since all the fun had officially been sucked out of dying.

"Well the ritual itself can only be both performed and reversed on the night of a full-moon. Which means you'll need to survive four days on your own for the next full moon." Deaton went on to explain how the ritual will largely be dependant on Danny and Jackson's cooperation and that just because they might give verbal permission doesn't mean they'll both mentally and physically be able to conceded. Danny would be the easiest as he'd be surrounded in mountain ash thus already dampening their bond. Jackson however will be another question as he'll be in his Kanima form for the duration of the ritual. Derek and his pack will be used to physically restrain the Kanima until the rituals completion. Deaton explained how Jackson will most likely respond unkindly to having a new master forced on him when he's so strongly bound to Danny. Should they fail the Argents would be needed to be on standby to eliminate Jackson in the off chance he goes alpha thus severing all bonds and becoming a feral creature.

Stiles didn't think they had to worry about all of that because while Danny might agree because he's such a nice guy that he'd never turn down someone in need; however Jackson would have no such problem. Stiles couldn't imagine a parallel universe in which Jackson would ever risk his life for him.

Stiles knew he'd know soon enough. Lydia promised she'd get them here but it was up to them to convince the pair.

* * *

AN: Please review and let me know what you think.


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